Trench coat glamour mafia: Andrej Pejic and Karolina Kurkova for Jean Paul Gaultier Spring/Summer 2011

A matter of days after Andrej Pejic strutted Jean Paul Gaultier's Autumn/Winter 2011/20112 menswear runway in Paris as both a man - and a woman - and twenty-four hours before the designer's feverishly-anticipated haute couture womenswear show, Gaultier's Spring/Summer 2011 campaign images starring Pejic and Czech supermodel Karolina Kurkova have finally landed. With the designer himself joining Twitter to excitedly unveil them. Shot by high profile photographic duo Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, the campaign consists of two black and white images of Pejic and Kurkova, both in fishnet stockings and wearing matching trench coats from the Spring/Summer 2011 womens collection (as first revealed by Kurkova just before Christmas in a Tweet from the set). In one shot, they are kissing. Who's the prettier of the two though?

images: via TFS

Andrej Pejic is James Blond

sonny vandevelde

After a big London booking delayed his arrival in Milan earlier this week and only ultimately walking in one show there - Neil Barrett - Andrej Pejic finally made a spectacular entree to the Fall/Winter 2011/2012 Paris mens show season overnight at Jean Paul Gaultier's show. As both a man - and, surprise, surprise, also as a woman. Inspired by legendary British spook James Bond, the collection was opened by a pistol-packing macho model in a tuxedo. Pejic was second out, also in a tuxedo, but with the shirt louchely loosened to bare his chest and his signature platinum blond locks parted to the side, softly curled and tumbling down over one shoulder à la Veronica Lake. Thence followed a suite of other tuxedo-inspired looks, including some deconstructed tuxes, obviously a Gaultier trademark and yet more examples of the controversial "shuit", or men's shorts suit, which has been gaining popularity on the mens runways for the past few seasons. Presumably more in keeping with Bond's action sequences, a number of sportier ensembles also hit the runway, featuring sprayed-on motocross leggings teamed with glam, gilt bomber jackets and jean jackets festooned with metallic sequins. 

After a second exit in an all black trench coat, cigarette pants and shirt ensemble, teamed with sunglasses, Pejic closed the show in high heels and a fur gilet - fur a confirmed trend this mens' season - carrying a golden gun. He was greeted with a big kiss from Gaultier when the designer took his bow. Frockwriter's backstage sources report that Gaultier referred to Pejic as his "James Blond". 

Androgyny might be a big buzzword in fashion right now, but it's worth remembering that Gaultier has been flirting with the concept for the past 30 years. 

He first promoted the idea of men in skirts in 1985, later putting them in corsets and tutus and blended genders in numerous advertising campaigns. He even launched a unisex collection back in 1994. 

No surprise, then, that Gaultier was the first international designer to cast Pejic in a runway show - at the last Paris mens shows in June 2010. And then cast him alongside lookalike Czech supermodel Karolina Kurkova for his Spring/Summer 2011 advertising campaign, dressing them in one shot in identical trench coats from the womens' collection.

You could say the supremely androgynous Serbian Australian is Gaultier's dream model.  Stand by to see just where this collaboration might be heading next.

Meanwhile, Pejic's other confirmed bookings this week include today's Comme des Garçons show and Sunday's Paul Smith show.  

all three photos above: sonny vandevelde

 

remaining shots: getty via daylife

Andrej Pejic, campaign trailblazer

thomas lohr for i-D via TFS

Long time, no Andrej Pejic post. Australia's most successful new model, of either gender, has been building up such a body of editorial work since first emerging on the Paris menswear runways in June, it has been difficult keeping up. We clocked, of course, his three Vogue coups - notably the Vogue Paris and Vogue Italia spreads, shot with Mert + Marcus and Steven Meisel, respectively. And it seems Pejic's blue chip editorials - which all capitalised on his distinctive androgynous look, a look that some have suggested is at the vanguard of a new "femimen" trend - have not gone unnoticed by other fashion heavyweights. Frockwriter can reveal that Pejic recently flew to north Africa to shoot an advertising campaign for a major international fashion brand. We can't disclose the name, unfortunately, just that it co-stars top (female) Latvian model Ginta Lapina. With the right styling, 21 year-old Lapina could be a dead ringer for 19 year-old Pejic, who is of course half Serbian and half Croatian. It sounds like the brand, which produces both mens and womens collections, may be planning a mix-and-match, guess-the-gender concept. But that won't be Pejic's only Spring/Summer 2011 campaign. After returning to Australia on Saturday to commence work with some local publications, Pejic has suddenly been obliged to up stumps after being booked for another ad campaign - this time for a major European fashion brand. He leaves tomorrow for New York to shoot that with a well-known photographic duo. Pejic will then return to Australia to spend Christmas with his family, before leaving for Europe in early January, ahead of the Fall/Winter 2011/2012 menswear season in Milan and Paris.   

James Varley: Chadwick's latest glamour boy

mariah jelena kordzadz, fashion journal via chadwick

Andrej Pejic is in Tokyo, having just wrapped Japan Fashion Week and waiting to find out whether he flies to Paris or New York for a couple of very interesting job options. Meanwhile, he just scored a mention in W's November issue, in the "She's a (fabulous) he" story about fashion's androgynous moment. The story was penned by Hintmag founder Lee Carter, who describes Pejic as "a slender Kate Moss look-alike". But while Pejic's Australian mother agency, Chadwick, waits to see just how prominently the Melburnite features in the November edition of another equally prominent international fashion title, which is days away from release, the agency has just signed another new male model with a similarly androgynous look: 21 year-old James Varley. Modelling for just a few months, this science student's slim CV so far boasts a lookbook for Melbourne label In Mind's Eye, editorial in Fashion Journal 100, Melbourne Street Fashion and indie Melbourne magazine Spook and a few test shots. Frockwriter has little doubt it will soon be expanding. 

photo credits (top to bottom)
1. mariah jelena kordadze/fashion journal via chadwick
2. shauna phoon
3. mariah jelena kordzadze
4. mariah jelena kordzadze
5. mel edwards